The Brontës: An Irish Tale (2022)

Actress Aoife Hinds explores the little-known Northern Irish part of the Brontë story. Aoife's first memory of the Brontës is as a child when she watched her father, the actor Ciarán Hinds, play Mr Rochester the ITV/A&E production of Jane Eyre (1997). In a journey which takes Aoife from County Down to St John's College, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK, she discovers how the father of the Brontës, Patrick, rose from humble beginnings in Rathfriland, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK, to become curate of the parsonage in Haworth, Keighley, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK. Then, unusually for the time, he encouraged and supported his daughters' desire to be educated and to write. Aoife discovers the impact a second Northern Irish man had on the Brontë story. Arthur Bell Nicholls, from Killead, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK, courted Charlotte for many years before she finally agreed to marry him. The newlyweds honeymooned in Ireland, and Aoife visits the archives of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, where she reads one of the letters Charlotte wrote while in Ireland. Aoife's journey concludes in Banagher, County Offaly, Ireland, where Arthur Bell Nicholls lived after Charlotte's death. She learns of the role he played in preserving all the priceless Brontë manuscripts and precious memorabilia, which are beloved by scholars and the visitors who flock to the Brontë Parsonage Museum today.